A New Dream
by tiger002
Summary: It was supposed to be a simple trip to the mall; not a life changing experience. After meeting those twins though, nothing has been the same.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Yes, this is an OC/self insert. Yes, this is still a Tiger-fic*

**Chapter 1: **Innocent Beginnings

* * *

They say some people are just born lucky. They say some people are just born cursed. Personally I'm really not into fate or luck, but holding the broken pieces of plastic in my hand makes me want to reconsider.

"Again," I sigh at my computer. I could understand one, or even two, but four!

"What happened, Alex?" my brother, Kyle, asks from his desk at the other side of the room.

"Oh, my stupid headphones stopped working again." I throw the pieces back on top of the keyboard, the exposed wires taunting me. You'd think such a small disconnection would be easy to fix, but as I've learned too many times this year, that isn't the case.

"Isn't that the fourth pair you've broken this year?" he asked. I could only nod in response. He was right. I had no idea how I managed to destroy so many headphones, but between tripping on the cords, sitting on them, and the sound going out for no reason I could think of, I find more ways to break them. I swear, they make these things too breakable. And it's really hard to concentrate on homework when I can't jam to awesome music.

"At least I learned my lesson and bought the warranty on these."

"So Chipotle run?" Kyle asks eagerly.

"What does that have to do anything?" I ask. I swear, his obsession with those delicious Mexican burritos scares me sometimes. Although, I can't deny their awesomeness.

"Well, Chipotle is right next to the mall, so we go there, get your headphones, eat awesome food and then all live happily ever after."

I can't really argue with his logic, and my stomach was starting to growl, so food sounded good. I grabbed my keys and headed for the door with my younger brother right behind me.

"You remembered the old headphones didn't you?" he asked which caused me to do a quick 180 back to our room before heading to the car with the defective merchandise. "What would you do without me?" Kyle asks smugly.

"Possibly still have some sanity left."

…

After reaching the mall, we head to the massive music store on the second floor. Upon entering, I am blown away by their vast merchandise. I don't think I have ever seen so many different CD's along the walls. There was rock, country, hip-hop, rap, jazz, movie, alternative, gospel, pop, and other things I had never heard of. It wasn't like this was my first time here, but it still amazed me.

"While you find the headphones, I'm going to check out their movies," Kyle says before walking to the other end of the store. Why is it when I need to buy something he seems to find more than me? Oh well, it's his money after all.

I walked over to the cashier with the old receipt and headphones and asked for an exchange.

"You run those over with a truck too?" a teen asks from behind me.

"How did you manage to do that?" I ask wondering what kind of crazy story that must have involved. Turning to see him, I notice he is wearing a Celtics t-shirt and blue jeans. Pro basketball isn't that popular in Ohio, especially teams from far away. He's probably on vacation or something.

"Let's just say it involved some pizza, a girl and a couple drinks," he responded with a chuckle.

Now I'm really curious. Pizza is good, but I've learned girls can be quite evil/crazy and adding alcohol is never a good idea. Although it does lead to some fun nights laughing at my friends especially the next morning when I'm the only one who remembers what happened and how that shovel ended up in the mattress.

"Wow, I think mine was just a manufacturing error." I would have loved to come up with a story involving killer penguins, but none came to mind.

"That's lame."

"At least the warranty covers that one."

"You might have a point there. Zack Martin by the way," he said holding out his hand.

"Alexander Bryson."

The cashier coughed reminding us of his presence. "I'd hate to interrupt you, but I'd like to go home sometime today and I don't really care how you broke them."

"Sorry," I said handing him the headphone and he gave me a gift card to buy new ones with.

"You might want to get some heavy duty ones so they don't always break," Zack suggested walking with me to the headphone rack.

"I'm not sure they'd be worth the extra money though."

"Well try out these TSL-2330, they aren't too expensive and have amazing sound. They can even survive a drop from a three story window."

"How do you know that?"

"That information is not important; just give it a try." I'm sure how good of an idea it was to trust someone who managed to drop his headphones out a three-story window or run them over with a truck. Still, I hate having to drive all the way to the mall every couple of weeks, and it sounded like he spoke from experience.

"Thanks, I'll see if they work."

"Zack!" a voice calls out from the other side of the store. I turn and see another teen that looks nearly identical to Zack running toward us. He's a little bit taller and slimmer than Zack, but I can easily tell they were twins.

"What's going on Codester?"

"They're here," he says in little more than a whisper. I doubt that anyone other than Zack or me could have heard him.

What was he talking about though? Who was here? Why was it a secret?

"What's going on?" I ask.

Suddenly, the room begins shaking violently throwing CD's to the floor. The lights flicker, and several screams echo across the room while the lights start flickering. Several employees are trying to calm the more frantic guests, but it's no use as the power goes out. I fling my arms, looking for something hold onto and find the wall, though the shaking gets worse as now whole shelves are coming down. try holding onto the wall for balance as the lights go out. The customers full blown panic by now. "Get down!" I hear Zack say before something grabs my waist and pulls me to the ground. In the dark, I can't be certain what's on top of me, but judging by the hastened breaths close to my ear, I can only guess it's Zack.

Before I can ask what's going on, an explosion rocks the entire building. I can hear chunks of the room falling everywhere. I'm sure one of the shelves or the pieces of drywall falling would crush me if it wasn't for the fact that Zack is still on top of me protecting me. How did he know this was going to happen, and why is he protecting someone he just met?

Several more explosions echo through the building sending more debris flying. With all the dust filling the air, it's nearly impossible to breathe so I try breathing into my shirt to get some actual air. "Is it over?" I ask through several coughs.

"I think so," Zack says calmly. After this mess is over, I need to ask him how he knows what's going on. He starts getting up, but as he does so, the ground begins shaking again. A giant cracking noise fills the air "Oh shit," Zack says softly before the floor beneath us fails and we fall to the first floor, ceiling/floor coming down upon us along with all the supplies from upstairs.

"Ouch," is all I manage to say with everything on top of me. My leg hurts like heck with everything that fell upon us and I can't even feel my left arm.

"Hold on let me get you out from under there," Zack says as he stands up and starts freeing me from the random objects pinning me to the ground.

"You two okay?" Codester asks and I hear him walking over towards us. I'm amazed at how unfazed the twins seem to by all this.

"What was that?" I ask weakly while they pull me up to my back to my feet.

"It's a long story, but we'll explain once we get you out of here," Zack says. I don't see how it's possible to get out of here though with everything pitch black. As if to answer my unspoken question, a light came on. I turn to see Cody holding out a flashlight.

"Here, we'll need these to find our way out of here," he says handing one to his brother and me. With the light, I can see some of the damage on my body. My legs are covered with various scrapes and scratches with blood slowly flowing down my legs. I definitely picked the wrong day to wear shorts. My right arm has a large gash on it where I believe a shelf fell on it. Looking at the twins though, they don't seem too fazed by it. Other than dirt covering them, they seem fine, only a couple small cuts

"What about Kyle?" I ask. If it weren't for Zack saving me, I could only imagine the shape I'd be in. I could easily be dead by now. I can't get out of here without knowing if he is okay.

"Who?" Cody asks.

"My brother, he was at the other side of the store when the explosions happened."

By the look of concern on their faces, I can tell they are thinking about losing each other like that. "We'll try getting him out," Cody says and we walk to the other side of the store, or whatever place this is now. The wreckage from the explosions covers the ground and many mangled bodies litter the ground. This is horrible. I just hope Kyle is okay.

* * *

*Tiger-fic, definition: A fanfiction story written by tiger002, characterized by drawing its strength from suspense, plot twists, and cliffhangers. Also includes violence in some degree, (with or without purpose), comedy in varying amounts, brotherly love, and of course, some reference to a killer penguin. Often, but not always, includes character torture and fantasy elements.

I guess I owe you an explanation for this story.

I've wanted to do a self-insert for a while, I mean, what Suite Life fan wouldn't want to visit the hotel/ship and meet the twins? However, I wasn't sure I could make a good story with that, and we have enough of those already. However, I ended up having a dream where I met the twins in the mall, and for some reason started running from something chasing us. I started writing this chapter that day, and over time had a couple other dreams that led to ideas for parts later on, and a thought that came to me after getting some feedback from my SI parody chapter which I can't say without giving away some major plot twists. However, I knew that I couldn't keep this up along with my other projects, so decided to wait until I got at least 5 chapters written before I started publishing. Well, months later (I started this last summer), I got 4 written and decided that was good enough! Updates will be slow (monthly, I hope), but I have some fun plans here, and I hope you will enjoy them. As you can tell from this first chapter, it won't be like the other OC inserts.

Thanks to WoundedHearts and Snapplelinz for betaing


	2. The Death Trap Once Known As A Mall

**Chapter 2: The Death Trap Once Known As A Mall**

This is bad.

Screams of pain fill what once was a clothing store.

This is really bad.

There is a kid yelling for her dad to wake up.

As I walk through whatever covers the ground, I hear something crunch beneath by shoe, and glance down to see blood seeping out from a crack in the ground. Did I just crush… I don't want to think about it. I clench my eyes, wanting to erase that from my mind and fight back the urge to puke. "We need to try getting these people out of here," Cody says as he uneasily walks into the unknown shining his flash light on the wreckage.

I'd probably be sick if I saw the actual carnage from this instead of a brief images from when the light shines over a body. It's one thing to see a dead body at a funeral (which makes me want to pass out), but something else entirely when their blood is still pouring out and their limbs lie along the ground (not always attached).

"How many of them are still alive though?" Zack asks grimly. I wouldn't bet on many. After something like that, I'm lucky to be alive. Was Kyle as lucky as me though or is he…

No. He can't be dead. It just can't happen. He's alive and we are going to find him and all get out of here alright. Maybe a couple small injuries that will annoy us for a while but nothing really bad.

I start walking through the rubble with the twins beside me. "Hey, this guy's still moving!" Zack exclaims bending down to try free one of the victims. He's trying to lift what seems to be a heavy piece of ceiling off the victim. Cody and I run over to him and give him a hand and together toss the debris off to the side, though I'm amazed at how easily we were able to move something that had to weigh several hundred pounds.

"You okay dude?" Zack asks holding out his hand to pull the victim back to his feet.

"I can't feel my leg."

"It's probably broken," Cody says.

"Can't we do something to help?" I ask frantically. I don't know anything about the human body except that all the bones and muscles and other thingies are supposed to stay in one piece and inside the skin, but there has to be something we can do.

Zack looks up at his brother who is standing over us with a pleading look on his face. Cody nods, as if in response to an unspoken question. Zack moves his hand over the man's legs where blood is still seeping out the torn skin. A faint yellow light covers his hand and the blood mysterious stopped flowing. "What's going on?" the man asks, a great excitement in his voice.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine," Zack says softly, holding his still glowing hand against the man's head. The injured man smiles closes his eyes and falls asleep, Zack catching him and gently setting him back on the ground.

"What did you do?" I ask trying to wrap my mind around this strange situation.

"I was able to heal his leg, and then made him fall back asleep so he wouldn't remember who we were. Things are hard enough without people asking questions wherever we go," Zack explains somberly.

"We should keep moving if we want to find Kyle," Cody says which silences any questions I have about Zack's mysterious healing powers. I'm curious, but I can ask questions later, especially since every second we waste here could mean Kyle is a second closer to death.

Cody leads us further into the wreckage guided only by our flashlights. It's like an obstacle course trying to keep up with them. How they manage to do this so effortlessly amazes me. There is definitely something different about those two.

Up ahead the destruction is only worse, mounds of wreckage pile high into the room. Our vision is obscured by the dust that continues to fill the air. After coughing several times I gaze up and notice a yellow light in the distance along where I assumed the wall was. I can't make out any details, but there is definitely something there.

That must be the sun, which means Kyle could have found a way out of this mess before the building collapsed. "You see the sunlight there?" I ask eagerly while pointing to the light in the distance.

"That's not the sun," Zack says.

"That's a fire," Cody adds with certainty. Through the dust, it is hard to tell, but they're right. The fire begins getting brighter, causing me to want to run, but the twins just stand there. Aren't they aware that a fire is growing, and fire is normally a bad thing?

"It's gonna fall," Zack says softly.

"Let's go!" Cody says, grabbing my arm and running from the fire with Zack right beside him, and me barely able to keep one foot on the ground at a time. I try glancing around to get a better picture of the damage, my curiosity somehow forgetting the gruesome details we just saw until I step over what I have a nasty feeling is a corpse which splashes some kind of liquid onto my leg. I'm going to pretend it was only water.

We stop once we reach the wall of what I think is a Gamestop, though my sense of direction is probably completely scrambled. We pause for a moment and hear the horrendous sound of walls crumbling and people screaming echoes through the distance. I turn back, seeing smoke rising again, and dust blowing towards us making me cough again. Once the dust clears enough to see, I notice the ground where we were moments ago is completely covered, and there are several small fires all around which are dancing through the destruction turning the mall to ash.

The twins aim their flashlights into the destruction seeing some people moving about, lucky enough to be able to still get up after that. There are a number of others squirming about though still on the ground. They're still alive, but I don't want to imagine the pain they are in. Then there are others, not moving at all. I can't get a good enough look at them with the flashlights constantly moving as the twins assess the situation, though that's probably for the best.

"Any sign of them?" Cody asks faintly.

Zack nods.

I close my eyes for a minute as we walk through the destruction, not wanting to fill my mind with any more of these horrible scenes, already seeing enough to give me nightmares for weeks. I'm not good with blood, never have been. I get queasy just seeing a scar on someone else. I even passed out the one time when I had my blood drawn. I can only guess adrenaline is the reason I'm not passed out now, and my heart pounding against my chest harder than ever confirms my suspicions.

"I'll go see what I can do to help," Zack says as he nimbly heads further into the destruction. "Get Alex out of here and make sure She knows what's going on. You'll know where to find me." Zack then nods at us.

Cody nods in response as Zack makes his way through the wreckage going far faster than he was when I was with him. "You ready?" Cody asks turning to me as Zack disappears behind a cloud of smoke

"Are you sure he's going to be okay?" I ask uneasily.

"Don't worry; Zack can take care of himself," Cody responds easily. It seems strange how calm these twins are through everything that happened. Under ordinary circumstances, I would think Zack was crazy for running into the fire like that, but he didn't even think twice about it. "We need to get out of here before this place collapses though."

I only nod in response as I follow Cody as fast as I can. Even if none of this had happened, I'm not overly athletic anyway, and falling through the floor of the mall doesn't help. He nimbly leaps over the piles of clothes littering the floor, likely from one of the overpriced clothing stories, while I have to carefully climb through those to avoid tripping and falling onto the ground. "Can you make it Alex?"

"I think so," I say weakly. I never realized how big the mall was until it turned into a death trap.

"It looks like that's where a door used to be," he says pointing to a light at the end of a tunnel. This is definitely the sun, not a fire. Even so, it looks like it will be hard to squeeze through all the falling debris that now litters the ground. Upon reaching it, Cody places his flashlight on the ground and gets down beside it. "I'll go first, so if I get stuck you can pull me back out."

"Okay."

He lies on the ground as flat as he can and uses his elbows to move himself forward. It is like watching a snake slither along the ground. He makes his way along the ground narrowly clearing the chunk of drywall barely off the ground. "Okay your turn," he says from the other side.

This can't end well, but it's better than being trapped in here all day. I try mimicking Cody's technique by getting down on my stomach, but he is much skinner than I am. If my aunt saw him, he'd probably say he was too skinny and shove pounds of her homemade cooking down his throat. Man, what I wouldn't give to be eating dinner at her house instead of trying to get out of here.

I slowly push myself forward, trying to make myself as flat against the ground as possible, but a body can only go so flat. Once I reach the drywall less than a foot off the ground I pull my gut in even more and am afraid to take a breath otherwise I'll be stuck in here. Each inch is grueling, especially with the scratches on my leg rubbing against the debris littering the ground. I knew eating all that pizza was a bad idea. I just have to ignore the throbbing sensation throughout my body and just get myself out of here. I can grab the emergency first aid kit out of my car when I get there.

By some miracle my head is blanketed by day light and I know freedom is almost here. "You made it," Cody says with a smile.

"Yeah, just a little bit farther," I say trying to encourage myself to finish the tedious crawl. I push my arms against the ground, dragging my body along with it, though I feel something latch onto me keeping me from moving. "I'm stuck," I groan, not about to let it beat me this easily.

"I got you," Cody says as he grabs onto my hand and begins pulling. I'm slightly afraid as he does so, but there isn't any more pain and I'm finally free.

I exhale a heavy breath seeing that the door is only a few yards away and there aren't any other random debris falling around us yet. We actually make it.

"Let's go!" I say and we begin running to the door. Cody lets loose a slight chuckle, but I don't see what's so funny. I just ignore him and go to open the door, and as the rush of clean air blows by us, I notice a surprisingly cool breeze blowing past my legs. I look down and realize that my shorts are missing. Glancing behind me, I see my pants were caught under the wreckage I had just climbed out of.

"My pants!" I yell as I rush back to get them, but before I can get far, Cody grabs my wrist stopping me. I turn to look at him, silently pleading to go back and get those since I'd rather not show by boxers to the outside world. He responds with a 'You have got to be kidding me' look.

Within seconds another earthquake shakes the building, and further walls and other debris fall on the spot where I was crawling less than a second ago. "I can live without those," I correct myself and the twin nods and we then fly out of the mall, finally escaping the giant death trap.

* * *

**A/N: **Alex and Cody have made it out of the mall, but the mystery is far from solved.

I'm really having fun with this story, so updates might happen a little faster than I had planned, but I still don't promise anything. Thanks for the reviews so far everyone and I'm glad you think I've been able take this overused concept and make something interesting with it. Thanks once again to Snapplelinz and WoundedHearts for betaing.


	3. Chapter 3: Fly Away

**Chapter 3: Fly Away**

The welcoming sunlight strikes my face finally allowing my body to relax some. I'm still breathing really hard after making my way out of the mall turned flaming death trap, but at least the danger of being killed any moment is gone.

World, don't go proving me wrong.

I look back, taking in the sight of the flames rushing along the great building and the smoke rising into the sky, a massive grey cloud covering the once pure blue. Wow, that was some explosion. It's a wonder we were able to make it out after something like that.

"You okay?" Cody asks, somehow still relatively calm after this whole mess.

"I think so." Considering the circumstances, I'd say I'm fine. Sure, my whole body aches and the minor wounds from all that falling debris isn't any fun and I'd love to keep the rest of my blood inside me, oh, and I'd really rather have some pants on instead of the mall eating them, but I'm alive, able to stand and walk, so things could be worse. I can still hear some of the people still stuck in the mall even though the crippled walls blocking much of the noise, and know many of them won't be as lucky.

Kyle…

I just hope he'll be one of the lucky ones.

Cody glances around, as if searching for something important. He quickly walks out to the parking lot, his gaze scanning over the hundreds of cars, though quickly comes back toward me. He seems nervous now, which makes sense after what happened, but why now?

Before I can ask him what is going on here, dozens of fire trucks and police arrive on the scene, swiftly pulling through the parking lot while skillfully maneuvering their way to the doors.

"Come on, follow me," Cody says, once again dragging me away, just as I had finished catching my breath. Apparently, the words 'slow down' don't exist in his dictionary.

We move toward a part of the mall that so far hasn't taken any damage. Hundreds if not thousands of people are pouring out; parents sheltering their kids as they chaotically try to get away. Police are trying to keep things in order, but with this many panicked people, there is little they can do. Firefighters are rushing in from this end as well, likely thinking this would be the safer path.

"Why did we head over here; won't it be harder to find what you are looking for?"

"She can still find us fine, and I didn't want to have to explain to the police how I was able to get out of there unharmed."

That does make sense, now with all the people running to and fro, many with worse injuries than me, Cody and I won't stand out much. Although, another question quickly comes to mind.

"Why weren't you hurt by all that?"

He sighs, leaning back against the wall, still amazingly calm especially with the flashing lights and sirens all around us. "That's a long story. For now, we just need to wait for Her to get here."

Well that answer was helpfully vague. I begin to ask who Her is referring too, but before I can, his cell phone rings. "Where are you?" he asks hastily before pausing. "Okay, we'll meet you at the corner of Pentagon and Nash." He hangs up his phone and turns to me, which leads me to believe more running is in order.

"Don't expect me to be able to keep up with you," I say, and begin walking again, glad that despite the pain which is telling me to sit down and liberally apply bandages all across my body, my legs still know how to move.

"She's still a couple miles away so we have time," he says as he keeps up with my pitifully slow running pace without even breaking a sweat. I have so many questions for him, but for now, I think those can wait.

We make our way through the throngs of people, who are pushing, being pushed, and being guided by police and whatnot, as Cody leads the way. Paramedics are already on the scene along with several helicopters taking the injured away with dozens of ambulances lining the streets. "I see her coming."

"Which car?" I ask, hoping she can park close so I don't have to walk far. I think my legs would be happy if I didn't use them for about a year or two.

"Not a car," he says pointing up and I can see one of the helicopters flying toward us, only this one has several pink stripes across the body. I'm really tired of trying to figure out what's going on now so I don't even try. I only stare up and laugh a bit, finding this whole thing the icing on the cake of ridiculousness.

"I don't even want to know," I say shaking my head, while Cody waves up at the copter causing it to move above us. It then lowers a wooden ladder, which he instructs me to grab. I do and begin climbing it, the wooden rungs feeling uncomfortably unstable. Knowing my clumsiness and my state of exhaustion, I can see myself somehow slipping and falling to a painful death below. After I'm several dangerous rungs above the ground, Cody grabs on below me and we begin rising up through the air, the wind whipping by causing me to sway back in forth in the air. I tighten the grip on the ladder as much as I can with my sweaty palms, causing my knuckles to turn white. Screw cutting off circulation, I am not letting go.

After what seemes like an hour or two (though was most likely a minute or so) we are both in the helicopter, me wanting to kiss the metal floor for its generousness in holding me. I decide not to in order to preserve my pride. Then again, I'm too tired to care.

"I love you floor." I say laying on the cool shiny surface.

"Who is he?" a woman says, likely the pilot or something.

"Someone Zack and I rescued as the detonations went off," he says, seeming to be somewhat defensive. I'd ask them what they knew, but the hard metal floor is too comfortable to get up from.

"Couldn't you have just-"

"He saw too much," Cody says cutting her off. I guess I wasn't supposed to see all I did with the twins. "And," he takes a deep breath before continuing, "His brother was probably caught in the explosion too, so we wanted to help find him."

"Thinking about the battle that separated you two?" the women asks raising even more questions. What happened to separate them? What battle? Do you have any painkillers?

"Yeah, I didn't want him to go through the same loss." Finding the strength to get up somehow, I walk toward the front of the copter where Cody is sitting in the passenger seat with the women.

"Is Zack still there?"

"He stayed behind to help those he could until the professionals get there. Trey should be able to bring him back when he's done. We decided we needed to get Alex somewhere safe."

"What's going on here?" I ask, getting back to my feet.

"Cody, take the wheel for a second, I want to test a little theory," she says getting up from her seat and Cody quickly takes her place, pressing on the buttons and levers as if this is no more complicated than driving a car. Maybe he could teach me how to fly later.

The person in front of me is a slender Asian, who if I may say so, is quite hot. I may not be a womanizer, but I have to admit, she's got it going on. Her black hair is tied up in a ponytail and she is wearing a business suit which shows off her slender body reminding me of someone I'd see in People Magazine or something. I'd guess she's about my age, maybe a few years older. I don't know, it's kind of hard to tell Asian's age just by looking.

"What is your name?" she demands.

"Alex Bryson."

"What happened to you in the mall?"

They way she asks this seems a bit suspicious; she could probably figure out all she needed to know from Cody who has a much better grasp on the situation than me. "Well my brother Kyle and I were browsing the music store when the explosions started happening, and Zack protected me from the first one and then Cody helped me escape from the mall and took me with him." I don't have anything to hide, but my voice is still shaky saying that. This woman seems to have a vibe that says 'do not anger.'

"Interesting." She paces slightly, making me even more nervous. "Would you say-" she begins but then runs at me, and before I could even register what his happening, she has my hands behind my back. "That you're a spy?"

Wait, what? A spy? I mean, I could see why she's worried, but-

"Are you?"

"N-no, I'm not."

She then pokes her finger in under my shoulder blade, somehow sending a searing pain through that part of my body, making me collapse to the ground, hitting my elbow on the hard metal floor. I cringe at the pain, closing my eyes to keep tears away. How did she do that? "What was that?" I ask weakly.

"A pressure point," she explains crossing her arms. "Our enemies would be trained to resist pain, but a normal person would quickly succumb to such a technique. You are untrained, unprofessional, and missing your pants, so I highly doubt you pose any threat to us." Of course a reminder about my lack of pants to add insult to injury.

"What do you think we should do with him?" Cody asks from the pilot's seat.

"Can you keep a secret," she asks me to which I nod my head.

"He is obviously no threat and assuming he can keep his mouth shut, we'll simply add him to a hospital and forge the records to say he was moved there during the bombings."

"That okay with you Alex?" Cody asks.

"Sure," I say getting back to my seat. I notice we are overhead several mountains and beginning to descend through the air. Judging by the sun behind us, I think that we're moving toward the east and I think we've been traveling for about an hour, so I'm guessing these are the Appellation mountains. The brown land below us comes closer into view as I feel us descending straight down, and I take a seat, not liking the concept of rushing toward the ground so fast.

She gazes at me and rolls her eyes while standing unfazed as he slows down and lands. Admitingly, it isn't any rougher than stopping a car. A couple small bumps and my body will have to get used to not flying, but not as bad as it could have been.

"Okay, let's head to the base," she says opening the door and stepping out while Cody is right behind her. I quickly get up to catch up with them, not wanting to be left alone at a time like this. "Wait," she said holding out her hand causing me to stop.

"What is it?"

"Even assuming we can trust you, showing an outsider the details of this area is highly dangerous."

"You want me to stay here then?" I ask, taking a step back to the helicopter. I'm curious to see where we are, but as long as I can rest, I don't really don't care.

"No." In less than a second, she is in front of me, stabbing a syringe into my neck. I try pulling away, but before I can, her other arm holds me tight.

"W-what are you doing?" I ask, my body trembling and my eyelids growing heavy.

"For the safety of both of us, there are some things you don't need to know."

She pulls the syringe out of my neck, it being less painful than most shots. I start to ask something else, but as I do, my legs suddenly feel week and I begin falling. Someone or something holds me before I hit the ground, but my eyes won't open to tell me who it is, and the voices are all jumbled together with words I don't know.

I think it's time for a nap…

…

**A/N: So Alex has made it out of there safety, but what about Kyle? Any guesses to who the Asian is; I have the feeling you've seen her before, but she's not quite the same as you might remember her.**

**I have up through chapter 6 written, so updates will still be coming, but still a while between them. I've done a lot of thinking about this story too, and really like where it's going so I hope you will too. Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone!**


	4. Chapter 4: Waking Up

**A/n: **Sadly, I haven't been able to work on this as much as I would have hoped this past month. But that's why I make sure to have a few chapters in reserve. Hopefully with school ending soon, I can focus on writing more, since I really like where this story is going. Thanks once again for WoundedHearts and Snap for betaing

**Chapter 4: Waking Up**

Pain.

Everywhere.

My arms, legs, chest, back, head, everything in between.

Ouch…

I'm lying down, at least, I think I am. Somewhere between being asleep and awake. You know, when all those strange dreams make sense, and you know that you aren't just you laying in bed. Yeah, add about 200 pounds of pain, and that's how I feel now.

I open my eyes, only to find my face is buried in the pillow. I turn, and am blinded by light. I close my eyes and yank the sheets over my head to protect me. Who in their right mind leaves the lights on like that when someone is trying to sleep?

"You're awake?"

I mumble something, though I know it can't be coherent. I think it was something about the French Revolution, but that doesn't matter. I try figuring out who it is. It's a women, but not Mom. Maybe Kyle is trying to mess with me, but I don't think he can fake a voice that high.

Wait…Kyle.

The mall

The explosion

The fires

Those twins

The helicopter

The hot Asian knocking me out.

Now I remember. That can't be Kyle.

I throw the plain white sheets off me, now remembering why I'm in so much pain. Sitting up in this, hospital bed apparently, I glance across the room at someone with some medical supplies. "How are you feeling Alex?"

"Pretty crappy." I look at my body, noticing I'm wearing some type of hospital garment, and have a number of bandages across my body, and the skin that I can see is covered with scratches. Still, I'm pretty lucky compared to those other people.

Looking back up I notice the kind of room I'm in. It looks like a bedroom with two twin beds, though the one on my right is unoccupied. The wall paper is a brightish green, not really my color, but oh well. There's a window letting light in, a clock which is too far away to read, along with some other furniture including what looks like a hospital medical cart.

She starts walking over to me, some kind of equipment in her hands, and one very shiny point. That better not be a needle. They poke and hurt and get under the skin and the doctors say they won't hurt, but every time they do. I'm getting queasy just thinking about it. I'd rather…um, I don't know what. I just don't like them!

"Are you okay?"

"I just don't like shots," I say as composed as I can. I can't just act like a wimp here, I have to have some pride as a man.

"This is just an IV, it won't hurt much."

"Yes it will" I glare up at her. Apparently they have a different definition of 'hurt much' than me. Okay…my pain tolerance might not be the highest, but I still hate those things!

"We need to get some nurturance in you, and I'm not sure you should eat after being out like that.

My stomach growling begs to differ. "Oh, I'm hungry enough to eat an extra large deluxe pizza all by myself, just keep that needle away from me."

"Okay then," she says with a smile, putting down the pointy object of doom. "But that might be a bit much for you just getting out of the anesthetic."

"As long as no needles enter my body, I'll be fine."

"Let me make a call first."

As she pulls out her phone to call someone, I collapse onto my back, though the pain grips me from hitting the mattress too hard. I close my eyes, everything going through my head. Those images of the destruction, feeling the ground caving in right out from under me, Zack grabbing me and throwing me to the floor to save me. Escaping the mall despite all the ruin. Heh, I wonder if this means I get out of doing homework.

"Alex," she says causing me to open my eyes, just as I was about to fall asleep. "We're getting some food up here soon."

"Good, I'm starving."

"That's to be expected, you were out for over 20 hours."

"Twenty hours!" I yell, sitting back up, but way too fast. Something my body regrets.

She nods.

"So," I take a breath. "Who are you?"

"I'm Jackie. I guess you could call me the resident nurse here. From ear-aches, to poison ivy rashes in strange places, I handle it all."

Poison ivy rashes in strange places…that sounds like a fun story, but for another time. "What happened to me?"

"Well, Cody brought you in here, and asked me to do what I could to help. I have to say, you were in pretty bad shape."

"It could have been worse though."

"Yeah, after he explained what happened, you're lucky to have so few injuries."

Yeah, I just wish others could have been as lucky too. "How badly was I hurt?" I can't think about that now. I was just in the right place and right time, so I have to make the best of it.

"Well, a lot of cuts and bruises. You lost a lot of blood, but we were able to find someone here who was willing to donate some. There are five stitches in both your legs, but the others were okay just bandaging them up. You'll be in a bit of pain for a while, but I'm working on getting you some medicine for that."

"Thanks." Yep, pain meds will be helpful. I'm really not looking forward to getting those stitches out though. Last time I had to have them, getting them out hurt worse than getting them in.

I guess I'll just have to get over it then, maybe ask for some of that drug that makes you loopy before they take those out. Then again, that could cause me to do something to hurt myself worse. Eh, it will be a week or so at least before they take those out, so I'll worry about that then.

I lean against the wall and close my eyes, I really feel confined here, but it's painful just to sit up, and if the worst injuries are in my legs, staying here might be for the best.

"Hey Alex," Cody calls out to me causing me to open my eyes and I see him walking into the room with something that looks like a tasty cheeseburger. My stomach rumbling indicates its agreement.

"How's it going?" I ask politely, REALLY hoping that the food is mine. I can't be greedy though, after all he's done for me, I'll just wait until he offers. But once he does…

"Okay; I brought you some food since I'm sure you're hungry."

"Oh, thanks." He hands me the plate and I waste no time in digging into it. At a time like this, I don't really care about the taste, but I can't help but notice how good it is. The burger is the perfect blend of juiciness and tenderness, and the cheese is just so melty and gooey and good. I can taste some ketchup in their too, which I could do without, but, the rest of it is so good and I'm so hungry, I don't care.

"You like it?"

I would answer him, but my mouth is fuller than should be possible, so I only nod in response. Man, whoever made this is good.

"Are you feeling okay today?" Jackie asks Cody. Had something happened to him too during the explosion? He seemed to be doing fine when we were getting out of there, but I was so focused on myself I probably wouldn't have noticed, and he seemed to be the type of person who could hide his pain.

"A bit light headed, but that's to be expected," he says nonchalantly.

"Which means you shouldn't push yourself," Jackie says sternly, "You didn't have to make the food yourself."

"You made this?" I say, or attempt to, but my mouth is full so it comes out more like, "Ew ma fis?"

"Yeah, I'm glad you like it."

"Don't try to change the subject Cody," Jackie says. "You lost two quarts of blood, and that's not something your body will instantly recover from. Don't lie to me and say you're fine either, you are extremely pale."

"Okay, so I'm not perfect, but it's nothing to worry about," he says with a roll of his eyes.

"Have you at least been keeping your fluids up and eating regularly?" she asks, a strange blend of anger and concern, like a mother watching over her children.

"Yes, I've been drinking the apple juice you gave me and eating something every few hours." Cody seems exhausted, his tone soft, though I can tell he's getting irritated with Jackie's interrogation.

"Good."

"What happened?" I ask, able to talk coherently after swallowing that bite.

"After he brought you in here, we saw that you'd need a blood transfer, but we don't have a supply here, and after seeing that your type was A-negative, we didn't have anyone nearby who was compatible, other than him. He ended up giving you two quarts of his blood, even though I warned him that doing so would be dangerous to his own health."

Cody shot Jackie a look, likely wishing she didn't tell him that. I don't remember exactly how much blood is in the body, but I know that's a lot. "You didn't have to," I say.

"You needed it more than I did." He closes his eyes for a second and rests his head in his palm, an obvious reaction to the low blood supply.

"Thanks." I wish I could say or do more to show my gratitude…for everything. This food, taking me here, and now giving me the blood I needed.

Suddenly, a blue light appears at the other side of the room. A strange sphere like thing flashes around, blue sparks racing along it. I mutter something that I'm sure isn't coherent, but Cody and Jackie seem unfazed by it. Two figures appear in it as the light begins fading. When it clears, I can more clearly see the two. One is a kid, several years younger than me and he's carrying on his shoulder someone who looks to be hurt really badly. His clothes are a mess, his skin looks burnt, and there are streaks of blood running down him. It's not as bad as the people in the mall, but the sight of him still makes me want to hurl.

"Zack!" Cody says, running toward the two. The wounded man looks up, and I can tell it's Zack.

"What happened to him?" Jackie asks.

"I'll explain later, but he needs help now," the younger one says.

**A/N: **Yay, chapter four written. But what happened to Zack? Stay tuned for more...


	5. Chapter 5: Angels Among Us

**Chapter 5: Angels Among Us**

Zack eyed the room as it came into view trying to maintain some sense of balance. The swirling blue energy showing the distortions in the fabric of space/time made him even more disoriented than normal do to his injuries. Once he was relatively sure most of his body was in the room, (he wasn't certain about his spleen), he tried taking a step forward, though the weakness in his knees caused him to stumble forward, sure that he'd fall if it weren't for Trey holding onto him.

Once the room fully came into focus, he clearly saw Cody and Jackie eyeing the portal and Alex in the bed with a look of confusion on his face. Zack smiled slightly, amused by the fact that the stickler for the rules, Cody, would bring an outsider here. He was glad to know Alex was safe though.

"What happened to him?" Jackie asked, at least that's what Zack thought she said, the effects of the portal still made it sound like he was both in an airplane and underwater at the same time. Zack knew Jackie would be chewing him out for the mess his recklessness got him into again. Cody would be angry too that he sent his brother away when they weren't sure what was going on. And then there was London. He was _not _looking forward to that conversation.

"I'll explain later, but he needs help now," Trey answered.

Zack didn't think he was in _too _bad of shape, just probably a few broken bones, some bad slashes and burns varying from first to third degree.

Okay, so he was a mess, his body hurt like hell and he would be passed out on the ground if it weren't for Trey holding onto him, but he had been through worse.

"What do you know about the extent of his injuries?" Jackie asked while Cody ran up to help prop his brother up and see if he could do anything else to help.

"Not much more than what you can see," Trey said and Zack could barely find the energy to breathe so he wasn't going to try explaining all the places that hurt and the exact sensations that each one produced. All the burning, stabbing, throbbing, stinging and tingling blended together coating his whole body in pain. He'd just let the medical expert figure it out.

Jackie ran over to get one of the surgical beds, her mind racing in a thousand different directions, running through all the possibilities of what she had to do to save Zack's life, to allow him to make a full recovery, and what she could do to alleviate his pain. Luckily, her years of training and experience kicked in, breaking everything down logically, not allowing her emotions for the teen to drive her to panic, but instead, to drive her to be as efficient and meticulous as possible.

"Are you okay Zack?" Cody asked.

"Oh, I feel like going to the beach," Zack said with a voice full of sarcasm and a smile filled with pain.

Cody knew how dumb that sounded. Of course, Zack wasn't okay; he was coating the once grey floor tiles with splashes of blood. Cody wanted to ask if there was something he could do to help, but there was hardly anything he could do now that would be of any good.

"Lay him down here," Jackie said, and the three of them laid Zack down, doing what they could to avoid further aggravating Zack's injuries or add to his pain.

Alex looked on in awe, mouth ajar trying to calm his thoughts enough to figure out what he saw. His mind was racing through questions so fast he didn't even know what he wanted to know. He thought about getting up to try and help, but at the same time knew he was in no shape to help, and even if he was, he didn't know what to do about someone with injuries like that. He could handle someone bleeding a little bit, wash it and put a bandage on it, no big deal. A burn, try keeping it cool and wrap it up, the pain would stop after a while. Thanks to Kyle, he knew that a dislocation could be popped back in place. But for someone who looked like that had gone through a fire and lost a fight with an angry lawnmower and then went through a meat blender, he had no clue where to start.

As they laid Zack down on the cart, Cody noticed his big brother clenching his teeth and several tears of pain running down his cheeks. He hated seeing his brother in pain like this, and wanted to do something to alleviate some of it. No matter what the rules said, he needed to help.

"What do you think about this Jackie?" Cody asked.

"The first thing to do will be to stop the bleeding, then assess his internal injuries and see if it will be best to set the broken bones or just let them heal by themselves. My guess is that he'll still be in a lot of pain for a few days."

Cody sighed. He knew that he'd be yelled at for this, but he wasn't going to trust his brother's health and comfort to the limits of human medicine. He glanced briefly in Alex's direction, and figured that there were more important things than keeping secrets. "Allow me to lend a hand," he softly yet resolutely said.

"Cody, you're already extremely weak and using magic that strong in your condition has tremendous risks," Jackie said. She wasn't going to allow him to push himself too far. Even with his powers, the human body had its limit. If she had her way, she would have him confined to his room until his body fully recovered from their last battle, but he and Zack (especially the latter) weren't ones to listen to her suggestions.

"I don't care," he said anger boiling out from his resolution. He knew his body. He knew his limits. He knew that this was going past them. He didn't need a lecture. He didn't care though himself though. He was going to do whatever it took to help his brother. He owed him that much at least.

"Remember who's around," she said softly enough so she hoped Alex couldn't hear while placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Damn it Jackie! He's my brother," he snapped, causing her to take a step back. "I know the rules, no letting outsides find out about us, information is the greatest weapon for us and against us! I don't care! I won't let stupid rules stop me from healing him!"

Before anyone could say or do anything more to stop him, Cody gathered a power from deep inside of him. His body began glowing a tint of red, and several small flames danced in his hands. This wasn't enough though; he'd have to go deeper. Normally he only delved this far into his powers during the hardest of battles and only when his body was at its peak. Fatigue gripped him as he latched onto it, making him want to fall to the ground, but he stood strong, not about to give in at a time like this.

Alex looked on in wonder as the red glow intensified. Before, he had thought his imagination was getting the best of him, but no, there was no doubt about it, a red aura shown from around Cody. Alex tried speaking, but his mouth began moving of its own accord and his vocal cords appeared to go to the store for a quart of milk, especially when Cody completed his transformation. Wings sprouted from Cody's back, angel like in appearance, a smooth surface of feathers, but they were as red as a tomato.

Cody looked back at Alex after he had completed his transformation, curious to see his response. Alex wanted to ask some questions, but all he could do was gently nod his head and blink. Cody then turned back to his brother. "Don't worry Zack, this should help." Cody's wings gently swayed through the air, as he felt the full power of this state course through his body. He began focusing on Zack and a red light glowed over his hands that went out, encompassing the injured twin. The light bathed Zack, tending to the wounds and releaving him of the pain. After about a minute of Cody holding the spell over Zack while Trey, Jackie, and Alex watched, the angel released the spell and unstably walked over to a chair before sitting down and returning to normal. Jackie looked at Cody, wondering if he was okay, but figured there wasn't anything she could do if his powers damaged him, while Zack would still need help.

"Thanks buddy," Zack said sitting up. He was better, though knew Cody's magic focused more on the internal wounds, and there were still a number of injuries the magic hadn't gotten rid of. It was a start at least.

"No problem," Cody replied softly. Jackie was right, using his magic like that wasn't safe…but it had helped Zack, so it was worth it.

"That doesn't mean you can leave," Jackie said, knowing how Zack's mind worked. "I need to make sure that there aren't any serious injuries still.

"Fine fine," Zack said, knowing that she was right and didn't feel like arguing with her this time.

"Trey, can you go tell London what happened there; I'm sure she'll want to know."

"Sure."

"Can I come too?" Alex spoke up uneasily. He really wanted to know what was going on here, after only seeing small bits of a world he didn't know.

"Sorry, but this is classified information," Trey said, much to Alex's disappointment. "But considering you've made it this far, I'll see what I can do about filling you in later."

"Okay, thanks." Alex was disappointed, but he understood. There were so many things going on here, so many questions he had to know the answer to, but he figured he'd learn what was going on soon enough.

With Trey leaving the room, Jackie went to work putting Zack back together; Cody fell asleep in his chair while Alex pondered on all that he had seen.

**A/N: **Well I had hoped to get this up earlier, but I got sidetracked with other stories, and almost forgot about this. Yay having chapters in reserve! As you noticed, I switched to third person for this chapter, really wanting to show the twins perspective here. I think I'll go back and forth through the story, depending on what the chapters call for. That and I like writing in third so much better, so I think it really helped here. Please review, and I'll see you next month! Thanks as always to WoundedHearts and Snap for betaing.


	6. Chapter 6: The Battle

**Chapter 6: The Battle**

Several hours later, Alex found himself in a large meeting room, sitting at a metallic round table, with the walls sparely decorated beyond the essential technology. The scary woman in the helicopter (whose name he learned to be London) stood behind a podium with a look of stress across her face. She seemed to be as strong as ever, obviously the leader of the group, but he could tell that beneath the surface, she was worried.

Beside Alex sat the twins, both of them worn out from the recent events, but they did what they could not to let it show. Trey was at the table along with two others guys, one about Alex's age while the other a few years older. Alex knew they were Scott and Sydney, but in the flurry of activity had forgotten which one was which. The two kept eyeing Alex, likely uncomfortable with a stranger in their midst.

With the clock striking 6pm even, London tapped her high heels against the ground to get everyone's attention. And everyone knew to instantly be quiet.

"The dark elementals have struck again, this time their target a mall on the outskirts of Columbus Ohio. Sadly, despite our recent recognizance missions to locate their next area of attack, we were unable to make it there in time."

While no one dared say anything to interrupt London's speech, several eyes darted to the twins.

"Initial reports indicate death counts of approximately 250, with over a thousand people injured. We still don't know what they are after, only that at their current rate of attack, we have a week to find out what they are doing and put a stop to it."

Normally Alex would have thought 250 wasn't _that_ bad of a number. Sure, he knew that was a lot of people, but with the thousands in the mall, things could have been worse. Except, he was one of the ones in the middle of it. He was certain Kyle was part of the thousand, and, as much as he hated to admit it, possibly part of the 250 as well. Alex knew he could have very well been dead by now too. A few tears built up in his eyes at the thought. Flashes of the carnage raced through his mind. The bodies torn apart, the rivers of blood, stepping on that corpse. He felt sick just thinking about it.

"Zack, since you were the last one to get out of there, could you please tell us what happened?"

"Sure," Zack said standing up, through had to hold on to his chair for a moment to ensure he didn't fall over.

"Will you be okay?" Cody asked.

"Don't worry, I'm fine."

Zack stood in front of the crowd and tried to relive the past couple days.

**At the mall, two days earlier**

Zack looked behind him as Cody and Alex disappeared through the wreckage. "Stay safe," he said softly, sure that through all the noise around him, there was no way his brother could hear him. He could sense the presence of another elemental nearby, and wanted to make sure Cody got out of this mess safely. After what occurred at their last battle, he hadn't wanted Cody to come at all, but being the good brother he was, he couldn't get rid of him. So, as the big brother, Zack had to keep Cody safe, and getting Alex to safety was the perfect way to do that.

Besides, he was sure he could handle it himself. That is once he found the dark elemental. And with what they had done to Cody in the last battle, he wanted a little bit of alone time with them.

After climbing up to the top of the pile of rubble, about 20 feet off the ground, Zack eyed where he was, while trying to sense where the enemy was, and found one not far away. So he jumped down the hill not about to let them get away. He moved his flashlight across the store, seeing that there were pieces of the music store he was in scattered about when the first explosion rocked the mall. That had been near the epicenter of the first explosion, so they couldn't have gotten far.

He heard something rattling so turned his flashlight and saw a bookcase of some kind shaking. He quickly gathered lightning in his hand, ready to blast the foe out of existence as soon as he knew who it was he was facing.

The bookcase fell to the side, and a wounded teen tried getting up. Zack knew he had to make sure the dark elemental didn't get away, but couldn't just ignore the person in front of him, so he ran, trying to help the stranger back up.

"How do you feel?" Zack asked.

"I'll tell you when my body makes up my mind as to whether it is cold, hot, wet, or hungry."

"I'm sure." Zack ran the flashlight across this person, and, it didn't look good. He was covered in blood, his left arm seemed to be at an unhealthy angle, and he was breathing hard, but he seemed to be alive at least.

"I think my shoulder is dislocated though," the stranger said trying to move his arms to get a sense of what was working and still responding.

"Help should be here soon and then they can fix that."

"Nah, I got this."

With cautious assurance, he grabbed his left upper arm, and yanked on it hard, causing a snap to resound through the shoulder. He eyed it warily, not sure if that was a good idea or not, but after awhile his arm seemed to move normally.

"This is gonna hurt in the morning."

Zack would have laughed at such an unconventional means to solve a dislocation, but given the situation, didn't find laughing appropriate.

"You think you can walk?" Zack asked.

"I think so." He took a couple steps forward and while he moved slowly, he found he could still walk. "I think there is something stuck in my side though." After finding the foreign object, he yanked it out, his body protesting, but he decided it was worth the pain and saw it was a piece of a CD. "That's disturbing."

"Yeah, that must hurt," Zack said, sure that he'd need to have stitches to get that fixed.

"No, I mean this is the new Disturbed CD. Just what I was looking for. Sweet," he said through a pain filled laugh.

Zack was glad to see some people were able to keep a sense of humor. It seemed that through all of this, it was the only thing that kept him going. "Try to find someplace that looks stable and I'll see if there are any others up ahead I can help."

"Okay, thanks for your help. By the way, my name's Kyle."

"I'm Zack. Be careful."

"You too."

Zack thought for a moment as he tried closing in on the dark elemental, Alex's brother was named Kyle…so could he have really found him? He wasn't in good shape to say the least, but being alive was the important part here.

However, he soon forgot about Kyle, as the dark elemental grew closer.

He tensed his body, ready for the fight and gathered his powers, lightning coursing all across his body. The electricity lit up the room like the light of day. Zack focused a ball of lightning in his hand, ready to unleash his attack as soon as his enemy was in range. Before he had kept his powers down, wanting the element of surprise, but knew there was no need to now. And he wasn't about to be caught off guard.

"So, he's alone this time."

Zack closed his eyes, ready to focus all of his energy into the attack. He had to wait for the right moment though. But when it came…

"Ryo," Zack said softly, lightning racing across his body. He was about to lose control and he knew it. Rivers of anger coursed through his blood; he'd make Ryo pay for what he did to Cody.

"I bet you're just as weak as your brother when you're alone." An image of Cody's bleeding and broken body flashed through Zack's mind, fueling the fire inside him even more.

Zack's eyes flashed open, the dark elemental standing before him, his sick twisted smile illuminated by the black lightning he held in his hands.

Zack sprinted at Ryo, blasting mighty streams of lightning at this foe, though Ryo, also controlling the power of electricity deflected them away, further adding to the destruction of the mall. Zack knew that he couldn't over power him with his control of electricity, but the attack gave him the chance he needed to get close. He slammed his foot into Ryo's stomach, before knocking him back with a lightning infused punch, but Zack didn't stop there.

He charged again, but this time Ryo was ready and their fists collided, the black and yellow lightning creating a blinding array of sparks, and despite Zack's anger fueled desires and he couldn't break through his foe's defense.

"Just as I thought."

Zack jumped back, as Ryo's lightning began overpowering his and barely got away from the black lightning cornering him.

"Why do you jump back? Do you not want to kill me? Are you scared?"

Zack wanted to shout several profanities at his enemy, but figured actions spoke louder than words. His fury demanded that he charge again, and beat Ryo's smugness out of him, but he also knew not to underestimate this foe. Oh, he still had every intention of winning; he'd just have to go all out first.

Zack channeled a deeper stage of his power, letting it take over his body. He began shaking at the strength flowing through him, surprising him at first, even though this was far from the first time he called upon it. The yellow wings sprouted from his back and he hovered in the air, the lightning dancing around him, his blond hair sticking up from the charge.

As Ryo began channeling his own power, Zack teleported in front of him, grabbed his face and slammed him into the debris, the power of black lightning fading from the impact. Not content at just that though, Zack used his own lightning to fuel his strength as he rocketed Ryo deeper into the debris, driving shards of the building into him. Once he was several feet in, Zack jumped back and charged an orb of concentrated electricity, planning on blasting the Ryo shaped hole and blowing him up with the pile of destruction.

However, as he went to launch his attack, he was struck by a lance of black fire sending him careening into the ground. Zack's attack flew off in another direction, and as its explosive energy collided with the ground, he heard a blood curling scream echo through the air. He knew his attack had hit someone, though had no time to grieve the innocent's death.

As soon as the smoke cleared, he rose again, only an ounce of fear in him knowing that there were two dark elementals here. For a second, he regretted sending Cody away, but his determination drove out any of those thoughts.

He stared at the fire elemental in front of him, clad in his black armor trimmed in red. "Syndrome, I had this," Ryo protested, emerging from the debris and sporting similar armor as his comrade; though his was trimmed in bright yellow instead.

"Sure, getting humiliated by a kid like that, I saw you had it all under control."

Zack looked from one foe to the other, knowing that one at their full power was hard for both twins to fight, so now, he knew he was at a disadvantage.

He wouldn't let that stop him though. He'd been in harder fights, and no matter what the odds, he had to win. He knew he couldn't match them in raw power, but that just meant he'd have to find another way to win.

Ryo ran at him, his obsidian sword drawn and ready to strike. Just what Zack was waiting for. He teleported behind Ryo and struck him with a blast of lightning before leaping from Syndrome's fire. He could fly, and he had much greater speed, so he could use that to give himself an advantage. He fired a stream of lightning down at Syndrome, but Ryo deflected it, and Syndrome then leapt at him, grasping his chest with a flaming grip before throwing him into the ground below, and followed it up by countless blasts of fire.

Zack tried to get up in time to dodge them, but as he jumped into the air, he was surrounded by fire. He summoned a shield of light at the last second to protect himself, which held off against the flames for a time, but soon found his defense ripped to shreds by the inferno along with his body as the scorching flames tore across it. He fell to the ground, bleeding and unconscious, though barely alive thanks to his powers.

…

Zack finished his story, detailing the encounter with the elementals and the destruction he saw, but chose to leave out the part about Kyle. He wasn't sure if that was Alex's brother, but knew either way, he didn't need to know. Especially knowing that an innocent died in the battle near where Kyle was.

"Thank you Zack," London said gazing to his chair indicating it was time for him to sit back down. "We now know the details of the tragedy of the dark elementals attack on the mall, along with what will happen if we do not stop them." London gazed heavily at the group in front of her, a sliver of emotion showing under her stony exterior

"Is there any way to know when they will attack again?" Alex asked, knowing that there had to be some way to stop them. They seemed so powerful, he couldn't understand how it was possible, but he knew now was not the time to worry about that. He had seen the destruction they caused and knew that it would be far from a onetime event. There just had to be a way to stop them. He tried thinking through the possibilities, but didn't know close to enough.

"Well, this is the first time they've done something this bold," Cody explained. "Before, they'd attack a few people, but never enough to attract that much attention."

"Why the change though?" Alex asked. This could be a key to figuring it out. And why that mall in particular? Were they just wanting to kill people, was there a specific target they were after, or was there another reason?

"That's we don't know yet," Cody said.

"Trey and I found something that might be of interest," Sydney said. "When we found out they were heading toward the mall, we also came across something else."

Alex looked to him, his confused mind racing with possibilities.

"Though we don't' really know what it is," Trey said sheepishly. "We were able to steal some of their computers, though they are too heavily encrypted to figure anything out."

"I'll take a look at it then," Cody said.

"Mind if I come too. I'm not an expert, but I might be able to help," Alex said. He had planned to study computer software and hardware when he got to college, and thought that now would be the perfect time to put it to use.

"Let's see what we can learn from that, and we'll make our decision of what to do next from there," London announced.

...

**A/N: Okay, some clarifications on the characters here.**

**I'm reusing Trey and Sydney from my Separated/Domino Effect fantasy series, but they are not the same exact characters, and this story does not tie into that series. **

**This 'version' of London was inspired by Snap's Agent L fic along with some of London's backstory.**

**Thanks to WH and Snap for betaing.**

**I have to say this was my favorite chapter to write so far. I just loved writing action scenes like this. I've decided to publish this chapter early because I will be out of town next week, and wanted something to get me motivated to continue this story. Chapter 8 is written, so I'm on track with the chapters in reserve. Review please and see you in a while!**


	7. 7: Technology Makes People Violent

**Chapter 7: Technology Makes People Violent**

Wow, this is incredible. The room is filled with fancy computers and technology that looks like I stepped into a Star Trek engineering bay. There are monitors across the wall, keyboards, mouses, touch screens, and instruments I can't begin to understand. This is every nerds dream, to have all this power and information at my disposal. I smile just thinking about it.

"Here is the computer hard drive they took," Cody says motioning to one of the tables and we walk over to it. The main computer on it is a large square, I'd say about a cubic foot in volume. It has a number of wires sticking out, about a dozen usb ports, and what looks like several sockets for monitors or maybe some kind of other contraptions.

"What have you found out about it?" I ask as I hover over it, trying to see how it works. I don't see a power button, but I'm guessing that could be a liability for such a valuable piece of technology

"It looks like whatever it is, they made it hard to physically break into. The steal casing around it seems to be physically unbreakable."

Cody's right, it's just a giant case of metal, wherever the seals are, it's impossible to tell. "Any idea what's on the inside?" With such high security, there must be something they're hiding. And as with all secrets, I want to know what it is.

"We're working on that. There's one other thing." He looks up at me. "Touch it."

I'm not quite sure what touching it would do, but I shrug my shoulders, and place my hand on it, though I instantly jolt it away. "That's freezing!" My hand turned red, and it looks like it almost got frost bite. I shake it some, trying to get the blood flowing again.

"The surface is about negative 52 Celsius."

"How is that possible?"

"It seems to be some kind of a cooling system."

Who would need a cooling system that powerful though? I mean, I know they can't have computers overheat, especially in critical systems like that. Still, that's just overboard.

"This is crazy," I say shaking my head.

Cody then moves to one of his computer monitors and opens up some files on it, and appears to be unzipping something and possibly uploading it to the stolen computer. "If this works we will be able to get into the files on there."

This should be interesting. Whatever type of computer that is, it has to be something completely different. I can only imagine what kind of graphics it could play video games on…although now is probably not the time to be thinking about that.

So instead, we wait.

And wait…

And wait a little more.

Why do computers always take forever when you're in a hurry? Though, Cody seems more patient than me, since his knee isn't bouncing up and down nor is he spinning around in his chair.

"There we go," he finally says causing my eyes to instantly focus on the screen.

"So we have access to it now?"

"In theory, but we still don't know what's within it or how to use the data. We'll try working with the main memory, and see what we can learn from that."

"I'm guessing it's not as easy as hacking windows is it?"

"You've done that?"

"Let's just say Kyle's computer had a habit of randomly going to a screen saver showing a killer penguin fighting a zombie tiger at certain times." I laugh at the memory, thinking of how mad Kyle was when it interrupted him getting the winning kill on Call of Duty that Friday night. I also cringe at him chasing me through the house, the backyard, and half the neighborhood with that rake. It was a good thing I could get over fences faster than him.

I just hope we can have fun times like that again.

"Remind me to bring you Zack's computer when we're done with this. I still owe him for the horseradish and sponge incident last Thanksgiving."

"You need to tell me that story."

"I will, but we have other things to focus on now."

Cody began uploading the data onto our computer and a string of zeros and ones emerged onto the screen. This made sense, they were likely a program or something that the machine used, but until we knew how it worked, it was just useless data.

"That's odd," he says after about 20 lines went across the screen, the numbers blending together as if I was looking into the Matrix.

"What?"

"It seems like a lot of the data is somehow between zero and one?"

"Is it stuck in the middle somehow?" I had seen that happen before. If you time it just right, the output can be balanced between the two, but most modern chips have big enough ranges of voltages that this shouldn't happen. Unless, it was supposed to happen. In theory, it could be possible, but the difficulty in maintaining the voltages wouldn't be worth the data compression achieved.

"Kind of, but it seems like each value is somehow exactly at a different point between the two."

"Try loading it again, maybe the computer got a bad read."

"That makes sense." Cody drags the input file to the side and saves it, and began loading the information again. Though, even if we could get information that makes sense, we'd still have to know the hardware that implements it. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of numbers.

"Anything?" I ask as the numbers fly by again.

Still the same problem, but it looks like the numbers are all different. Even the ones that made sense before are different, but some of the others are coming through fine."

"It's like we're reading from a random number generator," I say as I try to think about how this could be happening. Either there is something that is screwing up our readings, some anithack program within it, or maybe it's actually changing like that. Cody tries reading in the data three more times, but with similar results each time. "Can you try writing a line to it and then read it back, see if that works."

"It's worth a shot."

If this truly is a random number generator, then it should just give us junk when we try getting it back.

"That works fine," he says after a few moments of waiting.

Why is it that whenever you expect a computer to break, it works, but whenever you think it should work, it breaks? Times like this I wonder why I want to be a computer programmer when I get older.

"What the heck is going on here?"

"Here, let me try running it again. Maybe we just flushed out some bad input," Cody says, his brow lowered in frustration.

And as the unpredictable computer runs again, thinking we might get some numbers that seem familiar, the random garbage instead fills the screen.

"You want to do something violent to this computer, don't you?" I ask.

"Yeah, but we should probably hold off on that for now."

"Are you sure that you aren't just reading further into the data with each pass?" I ask. If so, that could explain why we keep getting different results.

"No, I make sure the connection is reset each time."

"Maybe that is what causes it to change?"

"If that was the case, then how were we able to do a successful write?" Cody asks, destroying yet another theory.

This is just so strange, each bit of data seems to hold a value between zero and one, and it changes every time we try to read it.

Wait a second…

I've heard of this before.

My nerdy programming teacher from last year would go off on tangents about a computer like this, how it would revolutionize the world of computing, how we'd have new problems to deal with while he sat on the beach drinking lemonade enjoying his retirement.

I never thought I'd see one of these so soon though. It was theoretically possible, but was still only in the realms of science fiction. Or at least, that's what I thought.

"I think this might be a quantum computer."

Cody's eyes widen as he looks at me. He then looks as the box on the table. "I think you might be right. I don't think we have the technology to decipher something like this though."

So, now we're at a standstill. We know what we have, but that doesn't help any unless we know what the numbers mean. That and the fact our computers can't even read the bits inside this piece of technology makes it useless. Still, it looks like it was made to be connected to the other computers judging by the various USB outlets. So maybe…

But before we can figure out where to go from here, Cody's phone begins ringing. "London, what's up?"

"The dark elementals are here," I hear over the phone.

How is that possible? Isn't this supposed to be a secret base or something. Maybe they somehow tracked me here…

I swallow hard.

"Where are they?" Cody asks, his voice even though I see his hands shaking.

"It looks like they are attacking from the north entrance. Scott, Sydney and Trey are on their way to battle them.

"I'll be there soon." Cody shuts his phone and looks at me, his face heavy with fear. "You heard?"

I nod.

"Stay back here until it's safe." He begins walking out the door

"Are you sure you're able to go fight?"

"If they are going through the effort of attacking us here, they are going to go all out to win. And Zack and I are the only ones strong enough to stop them. With Zack hurt, I have to fight. Or else we all die." He looks at me with a sense of assurance, but I can tell he's still nervous. He doesn't want to fight, he's not ready yet. But, it seems like there's no other option.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I know there isn't much I can do, but after everything Cody has done for me, I at least want to do something. I can't fight, I'm not a hero.

"Can you use a gun?"

I gulp for a moment. Does that mean I'd be out there shooting people? Really, firing bullets, tearing their flesh apart, blowing up brains, ending lives. I remember the mall, all the people torn apart. I'm not ready for that again. I want to sleep, forget all the carnage, not cause more of it.

"Well, can you?" he asks, his annoyance clearly showing.

"Yeah." I've fired a gun a few times, Dad took me to a shooting range on occasion and I was pretty good at it. Still, that's completely different than firing at living, breathing people that are firing back.

"Okay, let's go."

* * *

**A/N: Well it's the first of the month, so here is a new chapter. Sorry that this was kind of a filler chapter, but things are about to really pick up. And you might get the next update a bit early...**

**Thanks to WoundedHearts and Snap for betaing**


	8. Chapter 8: Suffocation of Hope

**Chapter 8: Suffocation of Hope**

"How many are there?" Cody asked into his phone as he ran through the halls with Alex trying to keep up as best he could, though Alex's lack of coordination and physical strength made him nearly trip every time he rounded the corners of this weird place.

"There appear to be a sizable force of the canine beasts. We cannot ascertain their exact number, although they have three elementals leading them."

Cody sighed knowing how bad this was. He'd never known them to attack in such a large group. Before they normally had to face only a few monsters, maybe a dark elemental if they deemed the situation important enough. Something like this was unheard of, the dark elementals hadn't made a move this bold since Anetulan's downfall.

"Any idea what they're after?"

"Not sure yet." Cody heard the sounds of gunfire and explosions echo through the phone, along with several of the monster's growls. "Hey, that was my favorite shirt!" Cody heard London scream which was followed by several explosions very close to the phone. He guessed the monster was no longer alive.

"I'm stopping by the armory to give Alex a couple guns then I'll be there to help," he said hanging up the phone, pretty sure London didn't need the distraction of a phone while fighting for her life. Then again, she had done far worse.

He still couldn't believe she once was texting Chelsea about the new Arturo Vitali clothing line while piloting a helicopter under heavy enemy fire, while doing her hair and putting on makeup. It was a miracle they made it out of there in one piece. But Cody brushed London's antics to the side, as he focused on the job at hand. He knew that even London couldn't last long against this strong of an invasion and with Zack not in any shape to fight; he had to get there soon.

After running through the many hallways that seemed to twist and turn so many ways, Alex was sure they were just going in circles. Though Cody seemed to know where they were going, so he trusted it was the right way. Though he would have liked to just stay back, he knew he couldn't. Cody needed to be there, and he wanted to do something. Even if it wasn't much, he didn't like the thought of hiding behind the elementals while they were out risking their lives. He just hoped that he wouldn't be getting in the way.

"Here we are," Cody said swiping some kind of card key and opening up a door revealing a large room of various guns and other weapons that Alex didn't know the names for. Though one in particular stood out to him.

"Why is that ak-47 pink?"

"That's Ellie for you," Cody said with a chuckle before brushing off the comment. He grabbed a couple shotguns and pistols, made sure they were loaded and handed them to Alex. "You know how these work?" Cody asked hastily as he rummaged through the extra ammo.

"Pistol yes, shotgun not so much." Alex was worried he'd be slowing Cody down too much here, and didn't want to waste more time by being taught how to use a gun.

Cody gave a quick demonstration of how to fire and reload it. He wished he had more time to go over the details, since a weapon this strong could be extremely dangerous if used improperly. But he hoped the rushed demonstration would be enough. He got out a couple grenades and flash bombs for Alex too. He knew this was dangerous; someone not accustomed to war at all was being given a bunch of weapons and told not to die. But, with such great numbers against them, they had to use every available resource, even if it was just a confused kid wanting to help. He just hoped it wouldn't cost Alex his life.

"Stay back, and don't be afraid to run," Cody instructed as they rushed to the battle.

…

Sydney and Trey made their way to the north side of their base once the alarms began going off.

"Are you okay fighting them?" Sydney asked.

"Yeah, I will be," Trey said. "Just don't underestimate them."

"I know." '_What am I getting myself into?' _Sydney thought to himself.

The growl of the monsters grew louder as they passed through another corridor and peaked through the door that led outside.

Sydney readied himself, gathering light in his hand and a white glow surrounded him. He would be ready for this; they were just the same types of monsters he had battled before. Maybe more of them, maybe some elementals were with them, but he could do this. And he wasn't alone either, so he'd be fine…he hoped.

Finally, swallowing all fear away, he burst from the door, firing a lance of light into the wolves to get their attention. And just as he thought, they ran at him, a dozen at first, but he saw that was only the beginning of the invading army.

Building light up in his body, for another attack, he punched one of the creatures into the ground, his power of light turning the creature of darkness to dust. But that didn't stop the others from attacking. Though as they pounced, Sydney saw them all slow, their jumps suspended in midair for what seemed like moments. Though he knew it was only an illusion, as instead Sydney's body had sped up thanks to Trey's control over time. It was strange, even though this was far from the first time Sydney and Trey had teamed up like this, Sydney still hadn't got used to the strange feeling. Though, he pushed those thoughts aside and continued to fight, blasting two lances of light into the sides of the creatures before jumping behind them and sending an explosive sphere into the middle of the pack destroying the other ten, reducing them to nothing.

With the current threat gone, Trey released his control over the time around Sydney, knowing that the battle was far from over and he couldn't tire himself out this soon.

Sydney took the lead rushing further from the base, seeing the army on the horizon, with Trey right behind him. If they could take the fight away from the base then they could make sure no one else would get hurt. Though looking around them for the familiar sights of fire and lightning flying across the battlefield, they saw nothing, which meant they were on their own, at least for now.

"Think we should head back?" Trey asked, sensing the light elemental's fear.

"They'll be here soon," Sydney said, knowing how injured the twins were. They weren't in any condition to fight a battle like this. But, they weren't the only ones who could fight off the dark elementals. Sydney knew that he wasn't as strong as them, but with Trey by his side, he knew they could win.

They approached the black creatures, over a hundred of them with a human in the middle of them. Sydney took a step back, not recognizing the elemental commanding them. He had seen Ryo and Syndrome before (luckily never having to fight them) but this one was new. This one was a female, long black hair tied up in a ponytail that hung over her shoulder and her scantily clad outfit did not leave much to the imagination. Normally he would have wanted to go ask her out, but at a time like this, he figured that would not go over well.

"Who is that?" Sydney whispered.

"Rebecca," Trey said, "She was Anetulan's greatest dark elemental, but she vanished right before I joined you guys. I'd never known her to be a part of the offensive missions though."

"So, she's strong?"

"Yeah."

Sydney gulped but didn't have time to retreat as she turned and spotted the two. With a razor-sharp gaze she stared at them, a devilish grin spreading across her lips.

Brushing any common sense or fear away, Sydney ran right at her, determined to shake his body from the chills that ran down his spine.

If Trey objected to this attack he didn't say anything as the light elemental felt his body accelerating as the blinding white light encompasses his body. The creatures of darkness saw him coming and rushed at him, but he focused more energy into his white aura and many of the wolves faded to nothing as Sydney approached them.

Sydney smiled, seeing how much stronger he had become, and with his best friend fighting alongside him, there was no way he could lose.

He pulled his fist back, focusing his aura of light into his hand as much as possible, determined to end this with a single blow. Somewhere inside he knew he should be afraid, that this was stupid, possibly even suicidal, but with the light radiating from him, all he knew was courage. He brought his fist forward, ready to crush her face with it, but before he could strike, his fist was caught with her hand, the force of the impact not even moving Rebecca.

"You're quite impressive, little one," she said and the courage the light gave Sydney faded away.

Before he could figure out what happened, she aimed a foot for his stomach, and even with his body accelerated from Trey, he couldn't block it in time and was thrown back several feet with what was sure to be a massive bruise. Sydney closed his eyes from the pain and shock of the attack, trying to regain his bearings.

"Sydney look out!" Trey shouted, and his eyes flashed open, seeing the sky full of lances of water. Sydney quickly got to his feet and dodged the attack just before they collided into the ground, creating a nice sized hole with their force. But they did not stop there, the water reformed and rocketed after Sydney again.

He held his arms up, trying to protect himself, but before the attack hit it vanished.

Sydney sighed as he shot a smile at his friend. Trey's control over space and time had saved him once again.

The redirected attack appeared right above Rebecca and descended upon her, sending her to the ground and leaving her quite wet and even angrier than before. Pulling the water around her and from the air, she stood up, setting her sights on the bigger threat of the two. Massive spheres of water began filling the air, and soon turned into a vortex which engulfed Sydney and Trey.

Sydney looked around, seeing no opening from the torrent of raging water. He ran to Trey, knowing that an attack was coming and that they had to be together if they were to survive.

Just as Sydney thought, the prison of water shot at them, the pillars of water tearing through the air. Sydney harnessed his power as much as he could, creating a shield of light all around the two of them. The water broke against the light, harmlessly falling to the ground.

"So, instead of using your power to get out of my prison, you choose instead to defend against it," Rebecca noted. "You have so little confidence in your abilities that you rely on another to give you the power to win."

"That's not it!" Sydney shouted, though he knew he wasn't nearly as strong without Trey. "I won't let anyone hurt my friends."

"You actually consider him a friend? Are you so naïve to trust someone like that, especially considering his past?"

"I don't care where he came from, only that he's on our side now." Sydney wanted to punch Rebecca even more than before. Though he knew his powers were nearing their limit. Shielding both him and Trey from that attack wasn't easy and perhaps he should have taken that time to strike, letting his friend fall.

But he wouldn't sacrifice a friend just to possibly gain an advantage.

"Dark elementals cannot change so easily," Rebecca said eying Trey. "You would do well to remember this young one."

Sydney charged at Rebecca again, but as he did so, he saw several streams of water rush past him. He turned behind him and saw Trey surrounded by the water, drowning him.

"Son of Ryo, your strength is nothing compared to mine," she shouted at Trey.

Trey began coughing, his arms flinging wildly as his lungs caved air. Sydney, knowing that the only way to save his friend was to make Rebecca lose control of the water, ran at her again, and away from his friend. He fired several lances at her, but a dark wall formed in front of the water elemental which dissipated the light.

Sydney then felt his throat being grabbed and looked down to see a dark chain surrounding him. Before he could process what was happening he was being held up in the air, his breaths becoming shorter and harder. He looked down, seeing Rebecca hold the other end of the chain as he helplessly struggled to break free.

"Your futile resistance is over," was the last thing Sydney heard before he lost consciousness from loss of oxygen.

**A/N: Yay action chapters!**

**You might have noticed that I put this chapter out a bit early, and that's because I've decided to update 3 chapters for the start of September instead of only 1 so I don't have to space out the battle so much. And sorry if you were wanting to see Alex and the twins battle here, but as I started to write about Sydney and Trey, I really wanted them to have their own chapter where I could show them better.**

**Please review and I'll see you next week!**

**And thanks to WoundedHearts and Snap for betaing as always.**


	9. Chapter 9: Courage and Fear

**Chapter 9: Courage and Fear**

A gun…

In my hands…

That I am going to have to kill with...  
I want to puke.

But I can't now, I didn't come here just to stand back and run. Although, that sounds like a much safer idea than rushing into a battle.

I don't know what I'm doing here. I don't have any magical powers. I'm probably just going to get in the way. I mean, I can use a gun, I know how it works and can aim somewhat and pull the trigger. But that was only because Dad really wanted us to know how to use a gun if we ever had to. Kyle was always better at it than me.

But if I'm lucky, maybe I can help some. Or maybe I will discover some cool powers too. That would be awesome, but I doubt things will be that easy.

"Are you ready?" he asks as we reach a door and I hear horrible, terrifying sounds coming from beyond it.

"Yeah," I calmly lie. I grip the gun as tightly as I can, not wanting to let go of my only defense.

"Okay, just stay back."

A fire soon engulfs Cody's hand and I start to shout, to warn him, but a rational part of me remembers that this is part of his powers. He gave me a quick explanation that he was a fire elemental, able to create and manipulate fire, but to see it like this, it defies everything I know about fire. I used to be afraid of it (okay, still am) and tried to always stay a safe distance away. But here is Cody, literally holding fire in his hand, acting like it's normal.

Though I guess for him, it is.

I make sure my gun is loaded and place my hand on the trigger, making sure not to fire too soon.

He throws the door open and runs forward, sending a huge stream of fire into the room, causing blinding explosions and I hear several growls, screams, or something from whatever he hit. I get the feeling I don't want to see what that was.

And as the light from the fire begins fading, I try looking through the room for something I should shoot. I stay near the back of the room, hoping that whatever is here will go after Cody instead. I'm not a complete coward; it's just that Cody seems to be better equipped to deal with things that want us dead. Or I'm just a wimp who doesn't want to die…Either way, staying back sounds like a plan!

He takes a few steps forward, and I see it running toward me. I shoot on instinct, barely aiming my gun before I fire, so I miss terribly, but Cody remains perfectly calm as he slams a flaming fist into it, sending the creature sprawling on the ground. I take a few steps closer to it, part of me knowing I should make sure it's dead before examining it, but I'm too curious. It's wolf like, black, with grayish black spiky fur all along its body. It gets back to its feet and is standing about 5 feet tall, its head just under mine and I back away; a growl telling me it's far from dead. But as I fear the weight in my hands will slow me down too much, I remember what it's used for. I hold the trigger down, this time with better aim due to the lesser distance, and fire a dozen rounds into the beast.

I see its blood dripping out, a pitch black liquid with just a touch of red. It reminds me almost of that dog I saw along the side of the road, wounded, but maybe not dead yet. This creature stumbles, a hateful growl escapes its mouth as it gets back up again.

I back up, forgetting that I'm already against the wall, and fire again, this time a bullet entered it and brought it back down to the ground. It looks up at me, it's cold pain filled eyes making me nearly cry. But then it vanishes in a cloud of black smoke.

That doesn't seem possible, but then I remember that this isn't the type of military battle where things have to make sense. I just have to try to do what I can to be helpful without dying. I can do that…I hope.

Through my focus is on keeping myself in one piece, I almost forget about Cody fighting close to me. Fire is flying across the room as he approaches this battle as calmly as if he was taking a walk in the park. Several of the wolf things run at him, obviously not seeing me as much of a threat. But Cody doesn't flinch, he holds out his hands and a massive wall of fire goes out and incinerates them all.

"Whoa," I say, nearly dropping my gun in awe.

Cody takes a few heavy breaths, this battle obviously taking a toll on him, but he doesn't falter in the least. More of the creatures pour through an opening in the wall, and I aim my gun once again, but it isn't needed when Cody sends another fireball flying eradicating these reinforcements. I don't think I'm even needed here, heck; Cody looks like he's not even having to try to kill these things. I begin to back away, back to the door, not wanting to be caught up in one of Cody's flames. He does it with such control, but I can't help but be nervous that a stray flame will hit me. Fire is still fire after all.

But as I begin retreating, a bolt of lightning shoots across the room. I stand staring, the smoke from the wolves and fire making it hard to see, but I remembered Zack's story, him having powers like this, the power to control lightning. Had he come to help flight off whatever it was?

But Zack was way too hurt to fight. And after seeing several more lightning bolts fly, I see they are flying at Cody.

Uh-oh…

From Zack's story, I can only guess this is Ryo.

And I think I need a clean pair of underwear now…

Cody fires back at the lightning, but bolts continued to fly, some of them nearly striking Cody. He's fast though, able to duck to the ground before they could hit. Yeah, really glad Ryo doesn't know I exist.

As the smoke clears from the attacks I get my first look at the Ryo, black armor covering him from head to toe, yellow lightning like streaks trimming the armor.

And now would be a nice time for a quiet nap away from violent people wanting to kill me.

But, seeing as that's not going to happen anytime soon I instead crouch down, waiting to take a shot. I know a bullet can pierce or at least severely damage the armor, assuming it isn't magical or anything like that. Then again, judging by the lightning racing across it, I'd say that's probably not the case here.

Fire races along Cody's body, and he stares down his foe. Though I'm behind him, I can see him take several heavy breaths. He's been through this before, but still, it amazes me how calm he's being. He's not rushing after Ryo, not turning to run, just standing there, ready to fight.

"Never again," I hear Cody whisper as the fire around him grows and flies at Ryo who then counters with a blast of lightning. The fire and the lightning clash in the air, going through each other creating an amazingly beautiful yet dangerous display in the air. The lightning crashes into the wall behind me and I get up to run, seeing as it's about to fall apart. I glance at the battle and see Cody charging at Ryo, his hand covered with flames but as he goes to punch Ryo, his fist is caught. Before Cody can get away, Ryo slams his hand into Cody's chest and sends him flying away with a terrible array of sparks.

I rush over to him, seeing him on the ground, massive burns covering his chest, though much to my amazement he's still breathing.

"And just who are you?" Ryo says looking straight at me.

You know those times where you see everything clearly, the right choice makes perfect sense and you banish all your fear to overcome great odds?

I sure wish this was one of those times…

"Waffles," I say backing up, it now occurring to me that I'm about to die. I can't stop him, he's nearly killed Cody, and there is no way I can run fast enough.

I see his hands course with lightning again, and my body freezes, though I'm not sure if that's because of my fear or his powers. Though it doesn't really matter.

He holds out his hand and the lightning jumps from it. As I instinctively raise my arms to protect myself, a fire rushes before me, and somehow protects me from the lightning.

I would normally say something about this not being possible, but I don't think thinking logically would be very logical right about now.

So instead I fall on my back and look before me to see Cody back on his feet, his red angel wings suspending him in midair. Fire dances around him, and an aura of red light emanates from his body.

"I was wondering if you were actually going to try this time," Ryo says.

"Are you ready to die?" Cody asks, void of emotion.

"You really think you can beat me? Surely you remember what we did to you last time. Come with us and I'm sure we can have those fun times again."

"Never again," he yells and then flies at Ryo, a flaming arm slicing into the lightning elemental. Ryo jumps back from the attack, but Cody doesn't let up. He punches Ryo's chest hard enough to cause several cracks in the armor. Ryo sends a wave of lightning out from him, forcing Cody to leap back, but that doesn't stop the twin's attack. He builds a giant fireball in his hand, the fire glowing with a white hue, and throws it at Ryo. As the flame collides with the ground, Ryo runs through it, his armor damaged and on fire, but if he's in pain he doesn't show it. He leaps at Cody, and hits him with a lightning infused punch sending Cody falling back to the ground.

The fire elemental gets back up, summons more flames and sends them at Ryo, but before they can hit, they change direction. I try following the many lances of fire along the room, but there have to be a dozen or so. I then see the cause, another elemental (or so I would assume) in the same style of armor as Ryo. Syndrome if I recall correctly from Zack's story.

Can Cody handle both of them though without me getting in the way? I look around the room, for something, but then hear the sounds of walls crumbling from above. I look up to see something big falling toward me. I try getting away, running as fast as I can, but before I can get far, something heavy collides into my back and I am thrown to the ground. More stuff falls and the light of the room vanishes. I try moving, but a tingling sensation in my arms and legs is preventing me from getting out from whatever this is.

Maybe now is a good time for that nap after all…

**A/N: I didn't forget I was supposed to update this chapter today...nope, not at all...**


	10. Chapter 10: Determination

**Chapter 10: Determination**

Cody saw the pieces of the building fall onto Alex, but he couldn't do anything to save his friend. He wanted nothing more than to dig Alex out of the rubble, to make sure he was still alive but looking to the two dark elementals in front of him, he knew he had to focus on them and just hope Alex would be fine. It would be a hard enough fight without his mind being preoccupied.

"So Cody," Ryo said taking a short step forward "Do you still think we'll be the ones to die?"

He was scared, but he couldn't show it. He had to ignore his fears, ignore the fact that he had no hope of winning, ignore the fact that he was going to die and let all his friends and family die too. He had to brush logic away, because he knew the best option would be running.

"Yeah, I can just kill you both now."

Cody took a step forward, his fire building all around him. Maybe he was being foolish, but he couldn't run. He would fight. And he would win. No matter what the odds were.

Cody leapt into the air, his wings granting him domain of the sky and from there he pelted the two with a constant barrage of fire. He wouldn't allow them the chance to strike, knowing that he'd need to overpower them as quickly as possible.

He looked down at the inferno he created, surely causing more damage to their base than he would have liked, but he had to win. Though, through the flames he saw Ryo and Syndrome standing in the middle, completely unharmed. Syndrome held his hands out, obviously redirecting the fire.

Black tinted flames shot up at Cody which he easily redirected to the side though the flames still set much of the ceiling on fire. He knew things could get bad real fast if he didn't get this battle under control. He'd have to use more than just his fire if he was to win.

Ryo joined his ally sending blasts of lightning up at Cody, which he tried dodging, though the attacks were too many and too fast for him to avoid. Several bolts of lightning struck him, the electricity freezing him in place.

He tried to move, tried to fight back but felt his body paralyzed by the current running through him. He could only look down helplessly as Ryo and Syndrome took aim and fired. Digging deeper into his angel form's powers, he brought up a shield of light deflecting the light and breaking Ryo's control of the electricity around him.

He fell to the ground as the shield dissipated, but it gave him the time he needed. Further harnessing the power of light, he ran at them his speed becoming too fast for his foes to follow. He slammed his fist into Syndrome, sending him back and before Ryo could aid his friend, Cody turned and sent a blast of light infused fire at him. He then jumped through the fire and pounded his fist into Ryo's face, the light in his hand cracking the armor of darkness.

Turning due to the sound behind him, he saw a wave of darkness coming toward him so he jumped into the sky again. His eyes darted between the two dark elementals, wondering if he could actually beat them both. His angelic state gave him an incredible boost in power, enough to hold his own against these two, but he knew it couldn't last long. He had been an elemental for just two years, while these had been one for decades.

He flew down at Syndrome, using the light to once more increase his speed as he rocketed into the dark elemental and lifted him into the air.

"You don't think this will really work, do you?" he asked

Light began emanating all around Cody; he wouldn't allow hesitation to lead to his defeat again. For a second he remembered Jackie's advice not to push himself after being so injured, but now more than ever, he pushed her wisdom to the side. The light around him began engulfing Syndrome, the aura of darkness unable to withstand the blinding light. Syndrome's armor began cracking, pieces broke off and despite Syndrome's best efforts he couldn't withstand Cody's powers.

Cody smiled; justice would be delivered and these two would never hurt anyone else.

Then everything changed. His own light became blurry. And soon the pain followed. He tried to focus but he couldn't even see Syndrome in front of him. He lost his grip, the dark elemental falling to the ground below. Cody soon followed as pain erupted along every nerve ending. He thought it was most concentrated in his back but he couldn't know for sure. He tried to get up though his limbs were unresponsive and not even his eyes would open.

"Damn kid's becoming more and more of a pest," he heard Syndrome say.

"Yeah, that will make things easier when the time comes," Ryo said.

"I just hope we're ready before it become too much."

"Don't worry, Twilight said that phase 3 is almost ready."

Cody tried to hang on to consciousness, knowing that this information could be key. He also wondered why they weren't killing him when he was completely helpless. The dark elementals mercilessly killed anyone they wanted, so why would they spare their greatest threat?

Though before he could ponder these thoughts further, he finally lost consciousness.

* * *

**Yeah...This was supposed to be updated a while ago. But better late than never! Also, I regret to inform you that I'm out of back-up chapters so I might not be able to update monthly like I have been. School has kept me from writing as much as I would have liked, but I don't plan on abandoning this one.**


	11. 11: Those Who Wake and Those Who Sleep

**A/N: This update is part of my celebration for being on the site for 5 years! That's right; on April 30 5 years ago I made this account, so today I have decided to update all of my stories that are in progress. This does not mean that more updates will be coming soon if ever though**

**New Dream has been an unique story, and once I've enjoyed working with. Alex has been one of my favorite OCs to write, because of him being a self insert I can put in my own sarcastic comments and such. That and I can do soething to set this SI apart from all the others, and truly turn it into a Tiger fic. I'd like to write more for this, but it may be a while. Still, I hope you enjoy.**

**Thanks to Wyntirsno for betaing.**

'_I went to bed I was thinking about You__  
__I ain't the same since I'm living without You__  
__All the memories are getting colder'_

_Don't Wake Me, Skillet_

**Chapter 11: Those Who Wake, and Those Who Sleep**

"Is he okay?"

"He doesn't look good."

"He's still breathing at least."

Why is my dog sleeping on me? She's so heavy.

"Let's get him out of there."

She gets up and I open my eyes.

Wait a second.

That wasn't a dog on me.

It was some big heavy pieces of the building.

And might explain why it feels like a building collapsed on me and why there is a lot of blood around me.

I think I should go back to sleep.

"He opened his eyes."

Wait, is that Cody? What happened?

"Yeah, looks like the shock was too much for his body."

Who is that? It's not Zack…maybe one of the others?

I don't know, I'll ask in the morning.

…

Lights.

Too many of them.

I like dark better, it's softer.

What are these lights though?

I open my eyes.

Too bright!

I close my eyes, rolling on my side, hiding from their piercing brightness.

Darkness, where are you; I want to sleep.

"Are you awake?"

It's that voice again.

"No," I mumble into the pillow.

Wait, when did a pillow get here?

It's soft though, so I can't complain, instead just trying to bury myself further into the soft darkness. It's too early to be waking up anyway.

"Man, it's like waking Zack up," he says.

Oh yeah, I remember Zack, how badly hurt he was coming back from the mall. And then Cody was battling those elementals. Maybe this man knows what happened to them.

I try pushing myself up with my arms, but an enormous pain shoots through them, causing me to crash back to the bed after only being a couple inches in the air.

Maybe they aren't the only ones I should be worried about.

"What happened?" I ask as I try rolling over to look at the person I'm talking to. He's a tall man, short black hair, probably in his thirties or so if I had to guess.

"Well when those elementals attacked you were buried underneath the rubble when that wall was destroyed.

Now I'm starting to remember. I guess I wasn't much help then. I just hope Cody made it out of there in better shape than I did.

"What about Cody?"

"They were too much for him."

Oh no…

Does that mean…

He di-

No.

He can't be dead.

He had to be strong enough.

"But luckily he was still alive when I found him."

I release a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"I just wish I could have gotten here sooner. I never thought the dark elementals would actually attack us like this."

I can tell he's talking to himself now. So, does that mean he's an elemental too? Man, this is just too much. When do I get to the part of the story when I get cool powers too? Or at least not have every building I'm in randomly collapse. Is that really too much to ask?

Yeah, probably so.

"Hey Dad," I hear Zack say as he walks into the room. "Is Cody doing any better?"

I look up and smile at Zack; glad to see he's back on his feet. He seems to be back to normal, heck, I wouldn't have guessed he had lost to the dark elementals a few days ago.

"He's still asleep but when he wakes up he should be okay. But shouldn't you be in bed Zack?"

"Sheesh, first Jackie, and then you. I'm fine Dad, Cody healed me, and Jackie has me hopped up on drugs. I feel like I could wrestle an alligator."

I see Zack's dad give him a look.

"Don't worry, I'm not doing that again."

Again? Okay, these twins have a few stories that I need to hear.

"You feeling better then, Zack?" I ask trying to sit up, though it's not easy.

"Much, but looks like you got a bit in over your head though."

"Yeah, I should have known it was a bad idea to try to help."

Really, what good could someone who has never fought anyone do in a battle like that? It would be one thing if they were normal people, each side having guns, then maybe I could be helpful. But when they have all kinds of elemental superpowers, there isn't much I can do.

"What happened after I was knocked out?"

"Well the dark elementals made their way into the base, knocking out or killing anyone in their way," Zack explained and I gulped at hearing the word killing. How many people died here? Could I have saved any of them if I wasn't so useless?

"Any idea what they were after?"

"You remember that computer thing you and Cody were working with?"

"They took that back?"

Zack nodded.

Well so much or seeing how a quantum computer worked, I really wondered what kind of video games that could play. Oh, and find out the information buried in it of course.

"And I want to get it back," London said. I turn to look up at her, and while the pain is showing on her face, she seems as strong as ever.

"London, you shouldn't be up walking on a broken leg like that."

"Shut up Kurt. I won't let that little bitch Rebecca keep me down. We need to strike back against them fast so I can pay her back for this."

"You really think that's a good idea in your condition? Especially after what happened this time"

"Yes, I know that I would have died if you hadn't come when you did, but I know what I'm up against now. And I am in the mood to cause someone a lot of pain."

Here I thought London was scary enough when she wasn't angry. Note to self; stay on her good side at all costs.

"Now is not the time though, not when they are as strong as ever and we're hurt so badly," Kurt replies calmly. I'm guessing this isn't the first argument he's had with London like this.

"Fine then, I'll go shopping with Ellie then." London then proudly turns to leave the room pulling out her cell phone. "If you need me call, and I'll be back sometime today."

I look up at Zack and Kurt with a 'what just happened' look on my face, something they seem to pick up on.

"London can be like that sometimes," Zack says through a smile. "Whenever she gets stressed she goes shopping. And if you're lucky, she'll bring back presents."

I like presents. I'd also like to be home now and not having my life in danger every 22 seconds, but I guess we can't always get what we want.

I try getting back up, though it still hurts quite a bit. Like my legs are on fire and my arms are made of Jell-O. You know, for someone who hated pain and avoided it at any cost, I think I'm starting to get used to it. At least I'm not crying…well not too much.

"Don't push yourself Alex," Zack said, and I decide to just give up, laying on my back again, staring up at the ceilings that as always are void of color. It's not like I'd be able to much anyway, but there's something demoralizing about laying around doing nothing instead of helping with mediocre tasks pretending like I'm doing some good.

Instead, I just close my eyes, letting sleep take me again.

…

I don't know how much time passes, but this time Cody is the one to wake me up.

"You awake?" he says gently, but I wasn't sleeping very deeply so any noise would have done it. I open my eyes, noticing that the room had grown darker.

"Now I am," I say rubbing the sleepiness out of my eyes. It's strange, normally whenever I wake up I want to go back to sleep. I either stay up too late playing video games or something, or I have to get up too early for school, normally a mix of the two. But right now, I'm wide-awake, too eager to see whatever it is Cody wants to show me.

"Well, we got the reports of the deaths at the mall."

"Oh?" I ask. I feel my heart begin to beat faster. It's not surprising that he'd wake me for that; it has to be information about Kyle. But is he alive or dead? Did they find his body among the ashes, or like me was he whisked away someplace else? Do they think I'm dead too? Is Kyle worried about me? That's if he's even alive…no he has to be alive. He wouldn't let something like that kill him. No, he's stronger than me, able to shrug off pain, laugh at destruction.

"They found Kyle's body near the exit of the mall. It looks like he made it out of the collapse, but something else got him as he tried getting out of the mall. The medical reports said that it appeared to be death by electrocution."

No…

After all this time.

After all this hope.

Is this what it's come to?

"He can't be."

"He had his wallet with him; they found his Id on him. I'm so sorry Alex."

I feel the tears welling once again. This time not for my pain or hurt, but for my brother.

How is this fair?

If he was the one to be found by the twins he'd be able to help them, figure this whole thing out; come up with a plan to defeat these dark elementals! But they only find me, someone who has been nothing but a burden.

I look up to the ceiling, to the heavens beyond this world, to the place I know Kyle will find himself. He won't be in any pain his suffering is over. He's in a far better place than me.

At least, that's the lesson my mind is trying to tell my heart. But it's no good, the tears pour out more, memories of the two of us through school, stealing Andrew's hat, switching Mr. Braith's computer to Spanish to see if he'd notice (he didn't). The fun times, the hard times, the times where we wanted to kill each other.

But now, they're over.

They can't be though!

This had to be a dream, a nightmare, an alternative universe created just to torment me.

I find Cody wrapping his arms around me, and I fall into his embrace. "I know how you feel, just let it out."

I don't think of myself as one to succumb to tears when I'm around other people, much less those I barely know, but I fall into Cody, letting him bare the weight of this tragedy along with me.

Though as I feel the tears coat his shoulder, his unyielding body just holds me. He listens to my incoherent babbling, but I can't help but let loose a small laugh.

Kyle had a habit of electrocuting himself on things that shouldn't be possible, like my unplugged laptop fan that one time when he tried fixing it. There shouldn't have been any danger from electricity in the mall. Leave it to him to defy the expected until the end.

'_It's last call, last song, last dance 'cause__  
__I can't get you back, can't get a second chance'_

_Don't Wake me, Skillet_


End file.
